April 21, 2011
As sunset on Dallas last night, a few lucky concert goers began to gravitate towards the city's famed Granada theater like ants marching back to the hill. The queen ant, Australia's dance dominators Cut Copy. They would eventually melt the deep chill that had forcefully held the room before the first beat dropped, both in silent anticipation and temperature.
First up to begin the thaw was The Naked & Famous. The New Zealand quintet shared a solid 5-6 songs from their first studio release,Passive Me Aggressive You. The sound was big, and even more commanding through the booming voice of the group's female vocalist Alisa Xayalith. For the first in the a line of four acts last night, TN&F were not there just to kill time.
Up next was New York's disco duo Holy Ghost. Despite struggling through a lengthy and on-the-fly sound check, the groove began to build and the frost inside the auditorium began to subside. Heads began to bob more throughout the crowd as blood began to warm and flow freely, forcing the chill to loosen its grip on would be dancers. HG's set was brief, but it was a necessary and enjoyable warm up lap for what was to come later. More ants filed in and the mound began to glow.
<Intermission for heavy Newcastle consumption. I also made my way to check out the recently renovated men's restroom... nice!>
By now the Granada was pretty full, yet only somewhat awake still. This would change quickly as Foals took the stage. Almost immediately the English rockers slapped the crowd in the face with a frantic fury of sound. Frontman Yannis Philippakis, adorn in dingy Grateful Dead t-shirt and wearing a wave haircut worthy of the purest bred Schapendoes, was the main perpetrator of this assault. With precision execution and supreme mastery of their superior technical playing ability, Foals showed any inspiring musicians looking on exact what being in a rock band is all about. To finish the set, Philippakis dove into the crown with guitar in hand, and was next spotted tip-toeing delicately across the upper balcony's handrail. He safely made it down, and through a stunned crowd made it back to the stage to say goodnight. The mound had been stomped, and the ants could not have been happier.
Finally it was time, and the Granada was at max capacity. With the magic door to dance heaven up and running, Cut Copy took their places at the altar. Immediately the crowd was hooked and not a person stood still. After playing a few past favorites from In Ghost Colours et al, the group dove into some of the lesser known songs from their newest release Zonoscope. The industrious yet wavering Corner of the Sky was enjoyable, but you could tell the crowd was there for poppy dance and dazzle. Perhaps noticing this reaction, Cut Copy finished strong with Need You Now and Out There On The Ice for the encore.
In the end it was a great show with great friends at a great venue. Of course I think that every band should play every song that I like, regardless of what they want to play or what other concert goers want to hear. Realistically though I would see any of these bands again, and am very thankful that I could be there for last night's show. Hopefully the rest in attendance last night found the experience as pleasurable as I did. What a treat. Cheers
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